Suitcase X1 from Extensis is the newest version of the company's popular font-management tool. Designed for the Mac OS X operating system, it allows users the ability to preview fonts before activating them. By entering custom text in the Preview Pane, users can examine multiple fonts at the same time and directly activate them from this pane, allowing them to choose the correct font in a visual environment.
Users are able to add keywords and styles to easily organize and locate fonts for later use. Suitcase X1 has an extensive list of built-in font styles and it also allows users to add their own custom styles and keywords to help them distinguish fonts for different projects, clients, or descriptions.
Suitcase X1's new QuickFind feature rapidly locates a font based on its name, style, or keyword. An additional Find command will locate a font based on more specific criteria such as font foundry and font technology. The software will also scan for corrupt fonts and attempt to repair the font if possible, thanks to a long-term licensing agreement with FontDoctor. Duplicate fonts can be viewed in a single window where they can be removed from Suitcase or deleted from the computer.
Suitecase X1 includes auto-activation plug-ins for Adobe InDesign and Adobe Illustrator and a free QuarkXPress Xtension that automatically activates any fonts required by QuarkXPress 6 documents including fonts embedded in EPS images. Suitcase X1 now supports QuarkXPress 4, 5, and 6. It will support Mac OS X (v. 10.2.6 or higher) and requires a Macintosh PowerPC or equivalent, 30 MB of hard disk space, and 128 MB of RAM. (Extensis, Inc: www.extensis.com)